International Hearts
by Fingerprints on paper
Summary: Aria is an exchange student who will spend a year in Belgium. She immediately falls in love with the country and feels like she's found her place, until a certain guy comes along...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! This is my very first fanfic, so I'm completely open for any kind of advice. I'm from Belgium myself, so if you're going to read this story, you'll surely get a lot of side information about Belgium :) Oh, first of all, I haven't really decided yet if I want to make Ezra a teacher or just a student. I really like the teacher storyline, but maybe that would make it a bit too predictable? Let me know!**

**Chapter 1**

Before the plane even landed, it was clear that the Belgian weather was being its typical gray self. Rain was pouring down as she got off the plane and the sudden cold made her shiver. This would definitely take some time to get used to.

Passing the passport control was surprisingly easy. Maybe because she was used to the strict controls in America. It took a while, but eventually she found her baggage and started looking for the exit. There were quite some people waiting when she got out. She had no idea what Belgian people looked like, or how they behaved, but for some reason, she felt good here. Her eyes were scanning the crowd, looking for a sign with her name on it.

It took her only a few seconds to find it, and before she knew it she was hugged by a tiny woman, accompanied by a girl who looked younger than Aria did, but her smile was as radiant as the sun.

"Aria, dear, so nice to finally see you," the woman exclaimed, "please call me Ellen!" "Hi Ellen, it's nice to see you too. You have no idea how excited I am for this year."

Normally Aria wasn't shy at all, but opening up to complete strangers like this wasn't something she often did. She felt an immediate connection, and it made her feel at ease.

"I'm Eveline, nice to meet you Aria." So this was going to be her sister for the next few months. She was tiny, about the same height as Aria, which made her like the girl even more.

The ride home consisted of Ellen explaining how they were going to take care of the home planning and other necessities, while Eveline kept telling her typical things about Belgium. It made Aria smile. This was going to be great. At least so far. She signed up for a student exchange program a few months agp, but she never thought she'd get sent so far away. And when Aria first found out she was sent to Belgium, she wasn't very excited. She had so many questions. Do they have electricity there? Or internet? What language do they speak? But when she looked up some more information, it turned out Belgium would fit her perfectly. It was a tiny country where they had three official languages. Dutch, French and German. She would be living in the Dutch part of it, which didn't matter much to her, she'd find out what that meant soon enough. So far Belgium looked a bit like America, only there was more nature, and things seemed a bit less crowded.

It took them about an hour to get from the airport to the Janssens house. Even though Aria spent practically the whole ride trying to pronounce the family's last name right, it was still very hard for her.

The house was quite different from houses she was used to seeing in America, but not in a bad way, just a different style. She really wanted to explore the rest of the house but Eveline grabbed her hand and lead her upstairs.

"I hope you don't mind sharing my room with me. If it's really a problem we'll find another solution, but this would definitely be the easiest option," she said as she showed her teeth in a kind smile. "Oh, don't worry, I don't mind at all," Aria replied as she threw her bag on the ground. "Let's get you settled."

Her first dinner was another memorable moment. When Eveline exclaimed excitedly that they would eat 'prut' tonight, Aria couldn't help but frown. But she turned out to fall in love with this dish. It was a combination of mashed potatoes, leek with a delicious white sauce and minced meat.

After dinner, Aria was so exhausted from the travel that she didn't have to help doing the dishes, so she went upstairs. When Eveline came upstairs a little later, she found Aria sound asleep on the bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When a vaguely familiar song caused Aria to wake up, she found Eveline already fully dressed in the room. "What time is it?" Aria said, still sounding sleepy. "It's about 7 in the morning, you better get up, we're leaving for school at 8." "Wow, you start school late," Aria said. "Late? Seriously? Then please tell me why I still fall asleep as soon as we arrive?" Eveline answered while yawning.

Aria's first day passed slowly but steadily. She didn't understand much of the lessons that were taught at her school and though she wished she could blame it all on the new language, she knew that wasn't completely true. Of course her Dutch wasn't fluent, but she prepared herself well enough to be able to make a small conversation and understand most of the simple words. They only had two hours of English a week, but Aria was already excited for those, since she'd be able to fully express herself there. But for now, Eveline had to function as a translator, which she didn't seem to mind.

Around 4PM, or 16:00 as they write it here, they arrived back home. Aria found a present on her new desk. When she opened it up, it included a new phone and a little note from Ellen.

_Aria,_

_Since you live in Belgium now you should be able to communicate with us and your Belgian friends and this is the easiest way to do it. Hope you like it!_

_Love,_

_Ellen_

Suddenly, Aria's mind shifted to a certain person she hadn't thought of in a very long time. Remembering about it now made her feel bad, so she sat down at her desk and while she waited for her new phone to start, she grabbed a pen and some paper and started writing a letter she should've written as soon as she arrived.

_Ezra,_

_I am terribly sorry it's been a while. The move was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And I don't mean that mentally, because so far Belgium seems to suit me perfectly, but physically, because though I've packed everything I thought I might need, I still felt like I forgot something. Well, seems like I found out what it is. _

_I could ask you how you're doing, but secretly I already know the answer. You are in love with your new job, I'd bet my life on it. It's the perfect job for you. Remember what Confucius said? Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. I hope it feels that way._

_I was thinking, now we both live in the same country, it might be good for us to finally meet. You've been my best friend for the past two years, though I've never even met you, but whenever I got a letter from you, my day was brighter. What about we meet for coffee on Tuesday? Eveline told me there is this really nice and cozy place just five minutes from my house and I guess it's pretty close to you too._

_Oh, before I forget, Eveline's mom got me a phone, so if you ever feel too lazy to write a letter and go to the post office, send me a text, I included my phone number._

_All the love,_

_Aria_

Eveline was too busy studying for her French test to accompany Aria to the post office, but it ended up being so close to her house that she found it without Eveline's directions. When she arrived back home, she finally found the time to pick up a book and she didn't put it down until she was called down for dinner.

Before she knew it, it was Tuesday already, or only Tuesday, depending on how you like to see it. Today was different from yesterday in a lot of ways. She could feel the stress disappearing as the day passed. She even talked with a few of her classmates, who turned out to be extremely funny and spontaneous. After a while, she felt like she completely fitted in. Her day got even better when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

_Aria! How did you know I'd be lazy and text you? Haha, anyway, I'd love to meet you there, can't wait! Say, about 17:00? - Ezra_

Aria knew he was teasing her, since Belgian time always confused her.

_If that means 5PM, I'll be there. If it means another time, you make sure you're there at 5 :) x Aria_

As she put her phone back into her pocket, the bell rang and she quickly scanned the crowd looking for Eveline, since there was no way she already knew her schedule. Luckily she found Eveline quickly. Once they arrived in class, Aria told Eveline that she'd meet a penpal of her today, and she could see Eveline's smile when she mentioned her penpal was a boy. Aria just rolled her eyes while they both pretended to be more interested in the lesson than the stories about Ezra.

Belgian weather was unpredictable and in this case, cold. So Aria put an extra sweater in her bag as she left the house to meet Ezra. When the rain started to fall out of the sky, she started running to avoid getting too wet and meeting Ezra for the first time looking like she didn't care about how she looked at all. Though when she eventually arrived at the cafe, she couldn't have looked worse. At least, that's how she imagined it.

She made her way into the cafe, trying to fix her make-up without even knowing what's wrong with it. When a waitress came up to welcome her, she asked: "Is there a table for Fitz?" "Sure, follow me please," the woman said with a friendly smile on her face. Another thing she liked about this country, how humble the people were. They weren't all over you all the time, they were just friendly without overwhelming you or desperately trying to impress you. When they arrived at the back of the cafe, the waitress pointed to a table with a man, supposedly Ezra, sitting on it.

He was reading a book and didn't pay any attention to the people passing by, or to Aria standing in front of him. She took the chance to look at him as well as she could. She'd never seen really clear pictures of him, but for some reason the man sitting in front of her matched the image of the person she's been writing letters with for the past two years perfectly. She made her way to the table, but it wasn't until she sat down in her chair, Ezra looked up and her hazel eyes met his blue ones.

**A/N**

**wantstowriteforyou****: I live in Flanders, so the Dutch part yes :)**

**I had a long day at work so I thought about how I wanted to work out the storyline and I think I've got it now :)**


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